Tradesman to pay for 'defective work'

A TOOWOOMBA tradesman has been ordered to pay $4711 for "defective plastering work" despite claiming he could not defend himself properly because he was working in Papua New Guinea.

Anthony Davis had denied his work was defective and filed a counter-claim against Michael Blocksidge last year to be paid the money he was owed for his workmanship.

He later submitted to the Queensland Civil and Tribunal there was no written sub-contractor's agreement and therefore he was hired as a labourer and not liable for any defective work.

But Davis claimed he did not receive QCAT correspondence about the need to file his evidence before a hearing last December, nor information about the hearing itself.

QCAT member Michelle Howard said, in a judgment posted online this week, Blocksidge had filed a copy of a housing subcontract agreement he had asked Davis to sign at least four times.

She said Davis claimed Blocksidge's material was "a pack of lies" and he had produced "a bogus contract".

Ms Howard said she ordered Davis to pay $4711 after she was satisfied he was sent notice of the hearing.

In an application to reopen the matter upon his return from Papua New Guinea, Davis claimed he had reasonable excuse for not attending and he would suffer a substantial injustice if the proceeding was not re-opened.

He said his neighbour was collecting his mail but some of it went missing "which was probably the QCAT papers".

Ms Howard said a Toowoomba Chronicle article submitted to the court suggested he was away for six weeks, not the three months he had claimed, and she was not satisfied he had grounds to re-open the case.

"Davis had every opportunity to advance his case. He simply failed to do so," she said